The meeting was enormous. Every adult who lived on the sixth floor of the equatora was in attendance. The ranks of the men were a thousand rows. Then the rows of dordor and their tribes came next. All these beings were on their knees, their weapons were lying on the ground, listening to what the judge was saying.
The judge wore a long, dark but transparent robe that was common among the upper echelon of the equatora. Surrounding him were five kings, each representing one of the five floors that made up the equatora. In the middle of them was a young woman so beautiful that she resembled the first men. Her skin was dark and her eyes were beautiful and charismatic. Her long hair was adorned with the ornaments of kings of men. If Armad were there, he would recognize her as Nusi Djinn. This was the day of the swearing-in. A day that Nusi would become one of the six leaders of the equatora.
When everyone was quiet and attentive, the judge raised his voice and recited the oath of allegiance. "Today, I, as the judge of the Hurricane Island on the sixth floor, swear Nusi as the queen of equatora, the guardian of the Hurricane Island, the guardian of the people and dordor. May the Hurricane bless her. Long may she reign."
As he spoke, all the thousands of people joined the dordor and replied, "Long live the Queen. Long live the queen. Long live the queen."
It was on Wednesday 1853 A.A that queen Nusi was sworn in. The festival began and lasted for nine days. Nusi was escorted to her palace in Dula, the capital city of the region.
***
Eight days after the ceremony, Nusi sat on her throne, surrounded by three lawmakers discussing matters of the government.
The lawmakers included a title called Wazir who hailed from the one-headed red dordor tribe. A sentient dordor by the name of Saiza. Then there was the Galad, a title occupied by a human with long white hair by the name of Naru. And finally, there was King Bai, another position occupied by a human named Rayaya, a man with big shoulders and a hefty built.
King Bai was the supreme commander of the region. "We have about nineteen thousand Benders." King Bai said. "Each under your control and will give their life for you."
"I control the politics, my queen," Wazir said. "We have five states in the region with a total population of one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand, all under your control, my queen."
"I look after our farms, my queen," Galad said. "We have enough food and water for the next three years even if we do not farm. There are forests for hunting since our dordor brothers love to eat raw meat, which they hunt themselves. No human meat is allowed, of course."
Nusi raised her hand to stop them. "Before we go to the administration staff, there is something I want you to do. You'll find someone. His name is Armad Djinn. I would like to put a bounty on him to speed up the process. How much money can I spend?"
Wazir, Galad, and King Bai looked at each other for some time and then Galad replied, "my queen, you can spend up to nine hundred thousand ayrids without consulting us. You only have to seek our counsel when the amount exceeds one million ayrids."
Nusi smiled. She had the opportunity to bring everyone she loved closer to her so they could live happily ever after. "This is him." She retrieved Armad's painting from her veil and handed it to them. "Put nine hundred thousand ayrids on him so we can find him quickly. Bring him to me wherever he is."
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"It will be done, my queen. But... we need information about where you saw him last and his country of origin and if possible his family. We haven't heard of Djinn before. The information will help us find him faster."
Nusi took a deep breath but remained silent for a while.
"Armad? Hmmm..." The memory of the first day she met Armad came to her. She could tell them all about it but there was no point. It was painful whenever she thought about how Armad ended up with Ururu. She was saddened by her inability to protect him and she was also saddened by the way she failed to stand up for herself against Ururu. Since the day she regained consciousness, there was not a day that she didn't think of Armad or Uznu.
When she didn't reply for too long, Wazir cleared his throat. "My queen... you don't have to tell us who he is, you can just tell us which town he came from and we'll start looking for him right away."
Nusi sighed softly. She didn't know she had been silent for so long. "He's from the third world northern hemisphere. A small village called Kanyu."
For some odd reason, the name 'third world northern hemisphere' terrified them. They looked up in amazement. "Er...? Did you say third world northern hemisphere?"
Nusi frowned wondering why they were looking at her like a ghost. "Yes, third world north, is there a problem?"
Upon hearing this, Wazir Saiza hurriedly asked Nusi, "my queen, where are you from?"
"The land of Mikironomada, the fifth world northern hemisphere," Nusi replied in a low, angry tone.
Surprisingly and to her annoyance, all the three lawmakers fell from their seats. Nusi shouted at them, "what are you doing? Tell me what's going on right now."
Wazir replied in a trembling voice, "in our constitution, it is forbidden to ask the king or queen what their origin is, so we did not ask. But... this is terrible, my queen, there is something you need to know."
Galad nodded. "My queen, I think we should hide our appearance so no one will recognize us."
King Bai and Wazir nodded in agreement but Nusi was just frowning. She still didn't understand what was going on and they insisted on wanting to show it to her instead of explaining it, so she agreed and followed them.
It was already dark when they came out of the palace. They took the royal horses and ran to the north wall to show Nusi what frightened them. Nusi had already lost her temper and she was determined to punish them if what they showed her wasn't that serious.
They ran for three days and three nights before reaching the wall. A sheet of water that was so gigantic it looked like an actual stone wall. Anyone would be frightened by its existence.
"This wall is what separates the northern hemisphere from the equatora," Wazir explained. "And there's another wall on the other side called the south wall which separates us from the southern hemisphere.
"The main thing that people don't know about the wall is that it's not just a waterfall. No, it has two layers to it and in-between these layers there is a space the size of ten big cities. This space is a prison built by Ururu eighteen centuries ago after the fall of the Wilberforce dynasty. They used it to imprison the fallen Wilberforce and their supporters.
"Despite the prisoners being powerful and being there for more than a thousand years, to this day none of them was unable to get out of it because of the black eyes that protect the walls.
"In 127 A.A, the six kings of the equatora signed an agreement with Ururu that no one would enter or leave the equatora. In exchange, Ururu would leave the region to live and rule as they wished without interference. From that day onwards, no one has come to this part of the world, not from the northern or southern hemispheres, and neither did we get out. You will cause a great deal of trouble if people know you're from the outside world. An outsider can't even enter let alone become a queen.
"I don't think it's wise to bring someone else here. The only way to protect you from the evil of the other kings of equatora and the evil of Ururu is if they don't know about you. The three of us will keep it a secret so no one else will know. We have already promised to protect whoever is chosen by Hurricane Island. But... we can not bring another, my queen. If we do that then everyone will know about you. I'll advise my queen to just forget about this man since he will not be able to come here ever, and you will not be able to go out. You won't be able to meet until the end of time."
Nusi raised her head and roared at him. "Wazir, don't speak of things you do not know about. I will not die until I find him. If I can't find him, he will find me. It's better to see my brothers once and die than live for a thousand years without them."